Video draw poker has been played in gaming establishments for many years. In conventional video draw poker, a single player does not play against a dealer or other players, but rather attempts to achieve a highest possible poker hand ranking. After a player makes an initial wager and is dealt five face-up cards from a standard 52-card deck, the player is allowed to discard and replace unwanted cards with replacement cards from the deck, resulting in a final card hand. The game then determines a poker hand ranking of the final card hand and provides an award based on a pay table. The pay table includes a list of winning poker hand rankings and the award for each ranking. The winning poker hand rankings for a standard Jacks or Better video poker game include in order from highest to lowest: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair and a Pair of Jacks or Better. Any poker hand having a ranking less than a Pair of Jacks or Better is a losing hand.
Manufacturers have developed variations to conventional video draw poker. One objective in developing such variations is to differentiate a video poker product from that of the competition. Another objective is to increase the speed of play and/or the number of coins or credits wagered. For example, one variation to conventional video draw poker is an auto-hold feature whereby, prior to the draw, the game automatically holds the dealt cards that represent a calculated optimum play. Although the auto-hold feature may increase the speed of play and therefore the number of coins/credits wagered, the auto-hold feature tends to annoy players. If a player disagrees with the automatically held cards, the player must “unhold” those cards and then hold the cards the player wishes to hold. As casino patrons become bored or annoyed with existing variations to conventional video draw poker, gaming establishments are continually looking for new video poker games that will attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the gaming establishment.